Beyond the Commercial Strip: Informal Food Vendors in Gading Serpong’s Peri-Urban Landscape

Abstract

The rapid development of modern commercial areas in peri-urban environments has created increasingly diverse food and beverage (F&B) landscapes in these areas. Alongside formal restaurants, cafés, and commercial food outlets, informal F&B vendors continue to operate within everyday spaces and provide alternative food and beverage options. This preliminary study aims to provide an initial description of how informal F&B vendors manifest in Gading Serpong and examine their role in providing accessible food and beverage options for people conducting daily activities in the area. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed, based primarily on field observations, supported by visual documentation and relevant online information. The observations focused on vendor types, operational locations, mobility, operating patterns, products, and service characteristics of the vendors. The findings indicate that informal F&B activities take various forms, including temporary food stalls, pushcarts, bicycle vendors, mobile beverage vendors, and small, temporary booths. Rather than being concentrated in a single culinary destination, these vendors are dispersed across everyday activity spaces, such as residential areas, roadsides, workplaces, schools, commercial surroundings, and settlement access points. Their service characteristics emphasize proximity, flexibility, convenience, and relatively affordable everyday food and beverage options for consumers. Comparison with established culinary areas such as Pasar Lama Tangerang and Blok M suggests that informal F&B in Gading Serpong has a more activity-oriented role than a destination-oriented role. This study provides an initial perspective on how informal F&B contributes to the diversity and evolving character of peri-urban F&B landscapes.